Forum Discussion

bobkatmsu's avatar
bobkatmsu
Explorer
Apr 05, 2018

Electric trouble

At a campground where I am plugged into 50 amp pedestal. Been here a couple days. Yesterday I heard a pop and lost electric. I checked pedestal circuit breaker and they had popped off. Checked my plug and it was fried along with the surge protector. This morning I replaced the plug and bought a Surge Gaurd. When I plugged it in it was showing L1 124V L2 90 V and the breakers on the pedestal popped again. They are going out to get new circuit breakers now. 2 questions, 1what should I be looking out for and 2 is there any way to tell if the problem is theirs or did I have a short in my plug. Should they be paying for my new plug and surge protector?
Class A
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Apr 06, 2018
    wa8yxm wrote:
    The Technical Research Corp. Surge Guard, at least the big one (about 300 dollars give or take) is supposed to be as good as the Progressive Industries in every respect save one.. Only a 1 year warranty.. PI is lifetime limited.

    Does all the same thing.. few seconds different on the re-connect delay is all.

    IT will protect against open neutral, ground, polarity issues, over/under voltage or frequency. Displays both amps and voltage and YES the voltage reading is not accurate.. Mine (When adapted to 30 amps) always I mean ALWAYS showed lower voltage on L-2


    If it's reading artificially low, it may shut everything down when it doesn't need to. You can adjust your PI reading so it's accurate if you have a good DVM (or several to compare to).
    Regarding the Lifetime warranty, PI now has a clause that says if it wasn't professionally installed, they dont have to cover it.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Apr 05, 2018
    The Technical Research Corp. Surge Guard, at least the big one (about 300 dollars give or take) is supposed to be as good as the Progressive Industries in every respect save one.. Only a 1 year warranty.. PI is lifetime limited.

    Does all the same thing.. few seconds different on the re-connect delay is all.

    IT will protect against open neutral, ground, polarity issues, over/under voltage or frequency. Displays both amps and voltage and YES the voltage reading is not accurate.. Mine (When adapted to 30 amps) always I mean ALWAYS showed lower voltage on L-2
  • 10forty2's avatar
    10forty2
    Explorer
    Apr 05, 2018
    After a similar surge or brown-out, (don't know which happened as I was out on the boat and came back in to a damaged thermostat), I ordered and installed the Progressive Industries 50amp hard-wired EMS. I like the fact that it measures the incoming voltage, amp-draw and frequency and until it successfully reads what it wants, it won't pass the voltage.
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Apr 05, 2018
    I hope the new SG protects you from this kind of stuff.
  • pianotuna's avatar
    pianotuna
    Nomad III
    Apr 05, 2018
    I'd be checking the voltage on each leg before I plugged in again.

    I would not be a happy camper at 90 volts on one leg.
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Apr 05, 2018
    If the Surge Guard brand unit is anything like the Progressive Dynamics unit I bought, that voltage readout is way off and they expect you to adjust it.
  • enblethen's avatar
    enblethen
    Nomad
    Apr 05, 2018
    It is an open neutral in the park system. They should be paying for damage.
  • rgatijnet1's avatar
    rgatijnet1
    Explorer III
    Apr 05, 2018
    If you are only reading 90 volts at the pedestal than the problem is theirs.

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